Boat-launching apparatus



C. H. FULLER.

BOAT LAUNCHING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 30. 1915 1,339,647, Patented May 11, 1920.

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. a. J 1 ///I n 11 161 8 14 C. H. FULLER.

BOAT LAUNCHING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION HLED JUNE 30. 1916.

" Patented May 11, 1920.

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ATTK

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES H. FULLER, OF PORTLAND, OREGON, ASSIGNOR TO FULLER QDAVIT COM-PANY, OF PORTLAND, OREGON,' A CORPORATION OF OREGON.

BOAT-LAUNGHING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 11,. 1920.

Application fi1edJune'30, 1916. Serial No. 106,989.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES H. FULLER, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of the city of Portland, county of Multnomah, State ofOregon, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement inBoat-Launching Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates generally to boat launching apparatus of theclass commonly used by ships for launching life-boats.

Many sea disasters have resulted from insufficient working of life-boatlaunching ap paratus, and one of the main objects of my invention is toprovide an improved form of this class of apparatus which will work moreefiiciently than others hitherto promulgated. To accomplish this objectof my invention I provide an apparatus which will be capable of simpleoperation, which will be built of few parts, and contain no sensitivemechanism.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is-an elevation of the right end of the boat launchingapparatus as viewed from inboard;

Fig. 2 is a sectional detail of the reversing gear mechanism; and

Fig. 3 is a left-end elevation of the parts shown in Fig. 1, the brokenlines indicating a movement of the davit arms.

(L represents the deck of a ship on which my apparatus is mounted. Theopposite ends of the apparatus are similar, so I shall describe only oneend, as illustrated in the drawings.

I), c are parallel standards rigidly mounted on the deck, said standardsbeing braced by the transverse members (3. The inner standard 6 has riidly mounted thereon a vertical channel-iron post 6, which is providedon its upper end with a cap 7', which forms a bearing for the freerunning fairleader sheaves g, h. The sheaves g are rotatable in avertical plane longitudinal with respect to the boat, and the sheaves hrotate in a transverse vertical plane. A shaft 71 is rigidly mounted inbearings j, on the upper ends of the standards, and a fair-leader sheave70 runs loosely on and along said shaft. A shaft Z is also rigidlymounted between the standards, parallel and in the same vertical planewith the shaft 2'. A winding drum m is rotatably mounted on the shaft Z,and is adapted to wind andunwind the boat-fall a, which runs over thefair-leader sheaves in, 9, 7t. 'Saiddrum is provided with an integralspur-gear 0, which is driven through a gear train, as follows: Arotatable'shaft 2 has fixed-thereon a spur gear 9, and one end of saidshaft is adapted to receive a crank handle 4". A second rotatable shaft3 "has fixed thereon the spur gears t, a, a ratchet o and brake drum 10.The gear MS in engagement with and driven by the gear 1, and the gear ais in engagement vith and adapted to drive the gear 0. A gravity pawl 00cooperates with 'the'ratchet 1) so as to normally look the shaft 8, andthus the drum on, against unwindin A brake-lever is indicated by g and abrake band by z, and said brake is adapted to control the unwinding ofthe drum when the pawl and-ratchet look is disengaged.

A worm-gear segment 9. is rotatably mounted on the projecting-end of theshaft Z, and carries a rigid davit arm 3, braced by tensionrods '21.Thedavit arm 3'has on its outer end a cap 1, which forms a bearing forfree running fair leader sheaves 5, which are rotatable in the plane ofthe sheaves 7L. I

A life-boat is represented by 6, and the boat-falls n connect the boatwith the winding drums m, as indicated in the drawings. WVith thisarrangement of fair-leaders, the boat-falls will never foul regardlessof the positions of the davit arms.

A worm 7 is fixed on a shaft 8, which is mounted in bearings 9 on theside of the standard Z). Said shaft has also fixed thereon a bevel gear10. A hollow shaft 11 is rotatably mounted between the standards 6, c. Aspur gear 12, fixed on said shaft, is in engagement with and driven bythe gear 25. Reversing bevel gears 13 are loosely mounted on aprojecting end of the shaft 11. The bevel gears 13 are provided on theiropposed sides with square-j aw clutch-faces 14, and a clutch sleeve 15,longitudinally movable between the gears 13, is adapted to be engagedwith either one of said gears. The hollow shaft 11 is slotted, asindicated by 16 in Fig. 2, and a solid shaft 17, longitudinally androtatably mounted in the hollow shaft 11, is provided with a pin 18,which extends through the slots 16 and the clutch sleeve 15. The outerend of the shaft 17 is provided with a swivel head 19, which is pivotedto a shifting lever 20. Operation of this lever will place the reversinggear in neutral or in either of its active positions.

The general operation of my device is as follows:

By means of the shifting lever 20, the clutches controlling thebevel-gears 13 may be positioned for placing either of said bevel-gearsinto operative contact with bevel-gear 10 onthe shaft of the worm 7, forswinging the davit-arms in either direction. IVhen said clutch is placedin its neutral position, the davit-arms will be held in the position inwhich they are at the time.

In launching life-boats, the davit arms are first swung inboard to theproper position over the boat, and the falls fastened to the latter. Theboat is then elevated and the davit arms swung outboard till thelife-boat clears the side of the ship. The position to which the armsare swung will depend upon the list of the ship. The gear connectionsare so sized that when the davit arms are swung inboard or outboard,boat-falls will wind or unwind, so as to cause the lifeboat to travel insubstantially a horizontal plane.

The reverse operation of my device, in shipping a boat, is obvious.

I claim:

1. In a boat launching apparatus of the character described, parallelsegment gears rotatable on a horizontal axis, davit-arms carried by suchgears, means for controlling the rotation of said davit-arms through themedium of said gears, sheaves carried by the free-ends of saiddavit-arms, rotating in a plane transverse to the axis of rotation ofsaid davit-arms, a fixed post adjacent each davit-arm, sheaves at thetop of the post, such sheaves rotating in the same plane as the sheavescarried by the davit-arms and overlying the latter sheaves, a windingdrum, boat-falls winding thereon, means for guiding the boat-falls overthe top of said posts and to said sheaves carried by the latter, andmeans for rotating said drums.

2. In a boat launching apparatus of the character described, parallelsegment gears rotatable on a horizontal axis, davit-arms,

carried by such gears, means for controlling I connections between thelatter means and the means for controlling the rotation of saiddav1t-arms.

CHARLES H. FULLER.

